Mozilla patches Firefox JavaScript bug

Mozilla ships security patches to deal with vulnerability in the JavaScript garbage collector, recommended for all users

By
Gregg Keizer, Computerworld (US)
| 18 Apr 08

Mozilla on Wednesday patched a single critical security vulnerability in the JavaScript engine of Firefox, updating the open-source browser to Version 2.0.0.14.

According to the associated advisory, Mozilla patched the bug primarily for stability reasons, but said that attackers might leverage crashes in JavaScript's garbage collector. "We have no demonstration that this particular crash is exploitable but are issuing this advisory because some crashes of this type have been shown to be exploitable in the past," the advisory read.

JavaScript's garbage collector reclaims memory and returns it to the system; its efficiency is an important factor in the performance of JavaScript specifically and Firefox in general.

The issue has been fixed in Firefox 2.0.0.14, Thunderbird 2.0.0.14 and SeaMonkey 1.1.10.